Darkwing Paul to the Rescue
Darkwing Paul to the Rescue is the Hundred Fifty-Fourth Episode of Mega Man ZX Shippuden. It is released in July 6, 2017. Synopsis As Team Natsu takes a vacation at the popular Akane Resort, Erza's dark past comes back to haunt her when a few of her old friends kidnap her and plan to make her a sacrifice needed to revive the most powerful Dark Mage in history; Zeref. Now, Team Natsu must find a way to rescue her and Erza must come to terms with fighting the man who was once one of her closest friends and the legendary Shredder. Plot The Episode begins at Heaven Tail Island. After Loke gives Ayame and Team Natsu tickets to Akane Resort, they head off for a vacation. Upon arrival, Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy first decide to enjoy the beach. Elsewhere, Erza unwinds in her room and drifts off to sleep. She dreams of her childhood horrors at the Tower of Heaven where she worked as a slave to build the R-System. She hides in a corner and cries as Jellal Fernandes' voice whispers to her that freedom is just an illusion. Erza then wakes up and looks at herself in the mirror. She changes back into her Heart Kreuz Armor thinking it fits her personality better, before Lucy comes in the room and tells her to get dressed to go gamble at the casino downstairs, where the others are already present. Erza then requips into a rose patterned dress and heads out. At the casino, Natsu gets angry when he loses a roulette game. As Gray plays at slots, Juvia reveals herself and admits that she decided to tag along. Natsu starts complaining again, when suddenly, a block-headed man named Wally Buchanan appears and tells him how to enjoy himself in an adult place, to Natsu and Happy's surprise. Wally then points a gun to Natsu's head, while everyone in the casino starts running in horror. Meanwhile, Gray and Juvia discuss her leaving the Phantom Lord Guild and becoming an independent Mage, as well as her interest in joining the Fairy Tail Guild. Just then, another man named Simon appears in front of them, swatting Juvia aside and demanding to know where Erza is. At the same time, Erza is playing a card game, when suddenly one of Erza's childhood friends, Shô, comes in to rotate dealer positions, but instead spells out the words DEATH with his cards to Erza. Erza stares at Shô, shocked to see him. The Magic Council reacts to the news brought by Siegrain that the R-System still exists. They remember shutting down the R-System projects, but other members point out there was an 8th tower they must have missed and that now it is almost completed. Siegrain interrupts the conversation saying the name of the 8th tower is The Tower of Heaven, while the others tell him to shut up and organize an army to take it down. Michello feels they don't have enough information to do that, but they do know that a cult leader, Jellal, is in control of the tower. After Erza and her former friends leave, Lucy tries to summon Cancer but fails to reach her keys, when she is suddenly poked by a knife belonging to someone inside of Shô's cards. He ends up cutting the ropes for her and the man is rewarded with a kiss. Once freed, Lucy runs over to Gray but when she touches him, his body breaks into pieces, freaking her out, until it turns out to be an ice clone. Juvia then gets up and lets Gray out of her water body, where she was hiding him, getting a freaked-out reaction from Lucy. Gray sheds his shirt and asks where Natsu is, but then Natsu's signature flame breath appears in the distance, before he starts yelling about how it was rude for someone to shoot inside his mouth. Natsu runs out of the casino, wanting revenge on Wally, with everyone else following, since Natsu has a keen sense of smell and can lead them to Erza and Paul Gekko can sense that the Shredder is in the Tower of Heaven. Bastia defeated Fukuro by smashing his head with the Mega Hammer. With no control over her actions, Juvia attacks Lucy with her Water Magic while Lucy tries to reason with her, to no avail. Juvia attacks Lucy a couple of times, first by ripping her dress off then by whipping her with water, while Vidaldus states that if he turned both of them into slaves, things would become boring and that he preferred to see a cat fight. While Lucy is trapped under Juvia's water, she states that she can't hurt her. However, Juvia's real consciousness reaches Lucy, telling her that she doesn't like hurting her friend, considering her one despite the fact that she also sees her as a love rival, and that she has come to love Fairy Tail, thinking that she has finally made friends. Lucy feels Juvia's hot tears and sadness inside her water and, When she gets out of the water, Lucy decides to settle things summoning Aquarius using Juvia's water body. Upon being summoned, Aquarius begins attacking everyone, including Lucy. Somehow, Lucy and Juvia join hands as Aquarius attacks and they perform Unison Raid to defeat Vidaldus, who seems unable to absorb all that water, stating it is too much for him. Shô notices that now Erza is serious about fighting Ikaruga, shortly before she changes into her Heaven's Wheel Armor; soon, however, Ikaruga destroys that armor too. Erza's opponent attacks her again, using a flame attack, however, Erza requips rapidly into the Flame Empress Armor to defend herself; nonetheless, this armor is quickly destroyed as well. Ikaruga praises Erza's ability to use Requip so fast, and she suggests that Erza uses her strongest armor, and she obliges, deciding to use the Purgatory Armor. Before Erza manages to do anything in that armor, though, Ikaruga destroys it in an instant, telling Erza that no matter what armor she wears, she won't stand a chance against her blade and Yoh accidentally spilled the beans, Yoh and Tao Ren is getting revenge on the Legendary Shredder who killed Hamato Yoshi 3,000 years ago. Angered that Yoh and Ren are ninjas, Ikaruga is preparing her attack but was then defeated by Erza. Erza orders Shô to find Simon and take her friends from Fairy Tail out of the tower and that she is going to settle things between her and Jellal. Back at the tower which is surrounded by the city landscapes, Simon is surprised that he is still alive while Natsu wonders what just happened. Meanwhile, Erza realizes that Jellal tricked her. Indeed, he explains that the true form of the tower is a giant Lacrima and thanks to the council's attack, he succeeded in gathering the power he needed to resurrect Zeref. Back at Era, everyone demands explanations from Siegrain, with Yajima yelling at him as he teleports away. Much to Erza's surprise, Siegrain teleports to the tower and unites with Jellal, proving to be the same person, as well as a ploy of the latter to manipulate the Council into firing Etherion. As the two merge, Jellal states that his powers have come back to him. Thankfully, Natsu arrives just in time to pull Erza out, not intending to let her die, also telling her that they need to go back to work, otherwise they won't have enough money to pay Lucy's rent on time. Erza tells him that she can't move, which he takes advantage of as he comically tickles her. Erza then tearfully pleads with Natsu to leave and not to fight Jellal because she is afraid of the consequences, but Natsu is confident that he will win. He then knocks Erza unconscious, as he turns his attention to Jellal, who asks him if he enjoyed striking his nakama who couldn't even move. Natsu replies that she was not herself and that he will defeat Jellal to bring the old Erza back, which piques Jellal's interested, as he states to be interested in witnessing Dragon Slayer Magic. Paul Gekko, Bastia, Shichika, Yoh and Ren have seen the Shredder on his flagship of his own fleet. The Shredder orders the During the fight, Natsu has the upper hand at first, attacking Jellal several times using his flames. However, Jellal states to be disappointed in Natsu's strength and then proceeds to attack Natsu. Since Natsu can't keep up with Jellal's Meteor spell, he tries to predict his movement but fails to do so. After that, Jellal attacks Natsu using his attack Grand Chariot, which causes huge damage to both Natsu and the tower, with Jellal regretting that action and saying to himself that he should not risk Zeref's resurrection by further damaging the tower. However, Natsu hears that and starts attacking the tower directly, claiming breaking things to be Fairy Tail's specialty and that he is more fired up than he has ever been before. During the fight, Natsu has the upper hand at first, attacking Jellal several times using his flames. However, Jellal states to be disappointed in Natsu's strength and then proceeds to attack Natsu. Since Natsu can't keep up with Jellal's Meteor spell, he tries to predict his movement but fails to do so. After that, Jellal attacks Natsu using his attack Grand Chariot, which causes huge damage to both Natsu and the tower, with Jellal regretting that action and saying to himself that he should not risk Zeref's resurrection by further damaging the tower. However, Natsu hears that and starts attacking the tower directly, claiming breaking things to be Fairy Tail's specialty and that he is more fired up than he has ever been before. Natsu sees Paul Gekko's group falling from the breaking ceiling and asks about finding the Shredder and Paul Gekko said that he arrived to destroy Zeref as his group got pounded to the ground by the Egg Fleet. Angered by Shredder's appearance, Jellal launches another attack on him but Erza shields Natsu and asks Jellal if he is going to kill her as well, since she is actually needed for the resurrection ritual. However, Jellal claims that it doesn't matter who the sacrifice is anymore due to the tower's fatal damage and prepares to cast a spell named Altairis that would well be able to kill both Paul Gekko and the Shredder, but Natsu punches him in the face out of rage and then starts eating the giant Lacrima, managing to absorb it and reaching the Dragon Force level of his Dragon Slayer Magic for the first time. After a fierce battle between an enraged Natsu who has reached Dragon Force and Jellal, the latter shouts that he cannot be defeated and that he must bring freedom because Zeref chose him and he was going to build the kingdom of freedom. He then proceeds to use Abyss Break, which surprises Erza because its force would destroy the entire tower but Before he is able to launch the attack, he feels the aftershock of a slash Erza gave him during their fight before and his Magic fails. Natsu sees an opening, telling Jellal that he will never achieve freedom by taking away other people's freedom away and that there is no freedom to someone who is possessed by a ghost and he should free himself first. Natsu charges at Jellal’s chest, punches him as hard as he can and then finishes him off with a huge smash to the ground, which leads to Jellal's defeat, impressing even Erza with his strength. The battle that Erza has been fighting for 8 year is finally over. Natsu faints out of exhaustion, but Erza quickly embraces him to prevent him from falling. The Shredder attack Paul Gekko only for Yoh to finally defeat him. Though the Egg Fleet makes the hasty retreat after the Swarmtroopers have set up charges, they detonate the bombs, causing the tower to collapse. Ayame arrived too late to warn Erza that the tower is collapsing and Erza already knows where the exit is. However, she then realizes that the tower has strong Magic power and that it won't be stable for long, also speculating that it will soon create a massive explosion capable of killing even the people outside. Hotaru encourages Ayame not to give up and it's now Hotaru's turn to protect her friends just as how Ayame protected her, realizing that tower needs to be sacrificed in order to control and prevent it from exploding. Hotaru placed her arm in the liquefied Lacrima which still works, only for Ayame to see hre new friend's half body into the Lacrima and cries for her "death". Natsu, Dan and Ace pleads with Hotaru to stop what she is doing, but she says that this is the only way to save all of them and that she has no regrets as long as she manages to save them all so that she can perfect the new jutsu. Offering her body to the R-system, she blanks out while Natsu continues calling for her to get out. From inside the vortex, she tells Ayame to take care of everyone because she will always be with her master, Utakata. Everyone, crying, calls for Hotaru, causing Erza to cry and scream in sadness. Out of nowhere Hotaru awakes, finally wakes up in a white dress. Wondering where she is, she sees a scene of Erza's funeral, with every member of Fairy Tail attending it. Makarov delivers a speech saying that she was like a daughter to him and during the funeral, the Council members also appear and award Erza a place as a member of the Ten Wizard Saints but no one seems to care, they are only crying. The funeral is shortly cut by an angry Natsu who says there is no that way that Erza died, refusing to accept the facts, kicking the flowers on her tombstone with everyone in Fairy Tail pinning him on the ground. Seeing Gray, Lucy and Happy's sadness over her loss and mostly Natsu's anger and denial affects Erza and makes her cry, saying she didn't sacrifice her life to give them a sad future and that this is not the future that she wanted to see. She closes her eyes as she slowly fades away from the vision to reality but sees Utakata . Suddenly, wakes up and sees Utakata sees Lucy, Gray and the others running towards her relieved that she is fine, and she then realizes that she is alive and notices that Utakata is carrying her, who somehow not only found her but also managed to use the power of the Six-Tails to take her out of the vortex alive. Hotaru is proud of her former master. Back at the hotel, Natsu has been sleeping for three days straight. Wally, Millianna and Shô apologize to Erza, and she tells them that since they don't have a place to go, they can join Fairy Tail. While she takes them to introduce them to her teammates, she hears Jellal's voice telling her that she has become really strong. She starts and turns around and sees nobody, deducing that she heard nothing after all. Lucy is in her room, writing what Erza told her; Jellal may be the one who saved everyone once he got released of Zeref's possession, saying to herself that she kind of felt sorry for him since Jellal was one of Shredder's victims. Utakata is shocked when the Shredder has purple hair before the tower collapse. As Erza enters the room, she asks Lucy where Shô and the others are, and when Lucy seems to not know either, Erza tells her to tell Natsu and Gray to prepare some fireworks. While Shô, Wally and Millianna decide to go on the journey to discover the outside world, Erza prepares for them the Fairy Tail Farewell Ceremony; she bids them farewell and promises that they will meet again as Natsu, Gray and Lucy throw magnificent fireworks for them. Erza's friends and Ayame's group set off on their own journey, finally, free to live their own lives. Unknown to everyone, the Shredder managed to survive the explosion. Characters *Ayame Muto *Paul Seika *Seika Gekko *Yuki Seika *Dan Renato *Ace Renato *Yoko Buxaplenty *Manta *Yoh *Ryunosuke *Anna *Tao Ren *Tao Jun *Shichika Yasuri *Paul Gekko *Bastia *Happy *Natsu *Erza *Lucy *Gray Fullbuster *Ten Master Clans *Shredder *Karai *Miwa *Jellal *Loke *Ikaruga *Sho *Wally *Vidaldus *Fukuro *Millianna *Simon *Naruto Uzumaki *Utakata *Hotaru Ghost Guardians Human and Animal *Amidamaru *Mosuke *Bason *Lee Pyron Duel Monsters *Rainbow Dragon (as the Spirit of the Rainbow) *Yamata Dragon *Cyber End Dragon *Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon *Divine Serpent Geh *Maiden with Eyes of Blue *Winda, the Priestess Gusto *Chimeratech Fortress Dragon *Stardust Dragon *Malefic Truth Dragon Gods *Great Spirit *Spirit of Fire *Raimei Ōtsutsuki Battles Paul Gekko vs. Jellal Participants *Ayame Muto *Paul Seika *Seika Gekko *Yuki Seika *Dan Renato *Ace Renato *Yoko Buxaplenty *Manta *Yoh *Ryunosuke *Anna *Tao Ren *Tao Jun *Shichika Yasuri *Paul Gekko *Bastia *Happy *Natsu *Erza *Lucy *Gray Fullbuster *Ten Master Clans *Schroeder *Karai *Miwa *Jellal *Loke *Ikaruga *Sho *Wally *Vidaldus *Fukuro *Millianna *Simon *Naruto Uzumaki *Utakata *Hotaru Locations *Tower Heaven Winners *Paul Gekko and friends Trivia Category:Mega Man ZX Shippuden Episodes Category:Episodes Category:Fanon